I have a labtop on which I run windows 7 and normally connect to the internet wirelessly. However, after having run Iolo system mechanic 7 to try and ensure my computer is in good shape, my Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter is showing a big red cross by it and says "Not connected" so I can't connect wirelessly to the internet. Being an amateur computer user I've tried "diagnose this connection" etc.. but to no avail. Can anyone enlighten me on how to get it working again? thanks, Neil

Ok:My initial guess would be that the mechanic took a "wrench" to the registry or some system files.
So let's see this:
Let’s take a look at the status of the network adapters

Device manager:

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type devmgmt.msc

Please respond to all the following steps.
1. Under Network adapters, please tell me all the devices listed.
2. Are there any devices under Network adapters that have a red x displayed?
3. Also, are there any devices anywhere in the Device Manager display with yellow ? or ! displayed?
4. should be enabled and working properly.
5. If error code,what is it ?

It would be best if you could post a screen shot of Device Manager with the Network adapters and Other devices sections expanded.

To post a screen shot of the active window, hold the Alt key and press the PrtScn key. Open the Windows PAINT application and Paste the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file. To upload it to the forum, open the full reply window and use the Manage Attachments button to upload it here.

Look at the driver section.Note down driver name,version and location.
I would go to your laptop maker's web site,download and install in this order:
Any chipset driver available for your model
And:
Then the wireless adapter driver appropriate for your laptop.

Note: You can check the services in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.

All of these services should be started, and their startup type should be automatic
If a service is not running, open it's properties and check the dependencies. Check each of the dependencies and see which one is preventing the service from running. Checking the event log is also a good idea here, there may be clues to what is failing.
__________________

And,just to make sure that there is no stack corruption .
Stack repair for XP and Vista.
Courtesy of Johnwill of the Networking forum.

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows Vista.

Start, All Programs\Accessories and right click on Command Prompt, select "Run as Administrator" to open a command prompt.

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following commands:

Ok: Dhcp is not enabled.on the wireless connection.
From a Johnwill postConfigure DHCP for Windows Vista.
1. Click on the Start menu, and select Control Panel.
2. Click on Network and Internet. (Skip this step if you do not see this Control Panel item.)
3. Click on Network and Sharing Center.
4. Click on Manage network connections.
5. Right click on Local Area Connection and choose Properties. If Windows say it needs your permission to continue, click Continue.
6. Select Internet Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4) and click Properties.
7. Select Obtain an IP address automatically.
8. Select Obtain DNS server address automatically.
9. Click OK to close the TCP/IP Properties window.
10. Click OK to close the Local Area Connection Properties window.
11. Click Close to close the Network Connections window.
12. Click Close to close the Control Panel window.
13. Restart your computer.

As to network tasks:
from post #4
You can check the services in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.
We need to make sure that all network tasks,including Dhcp are enabled and running >

Well done.WLAN is the wireless client manager.If not started,the address assignment process cannot get started.
If you look at the ipconfig results for your ethernet connection,the Dhcp server has assigned valid network addressses for your wired connection.
That's the way your wireless connection should look except for a different ipv4 address.
Now when you start WLAN be aware that there may be some other services,that WLAN depends on that also may need to started
So make Wlan auto start and enable it .

can get to Network sharing area but can't find manage network connections (please see screen dump). Any more guidance please? - have looked at all options on this screen but it doesn't get me to Manage network connections or Local Area Connection, thanks, Neil

Well WLAN is automatic now in Start up and I reset the IP address to be picked up automatically, restarted the computer but still no joy from the wireless adapter. I'm starting to lose the will to live... any ideas? Here's the IPCONFIG data again:

Interesting.And the stack repair completed successfully ?
Let's do this.Meat ax approach but it does sometimes work.
In device manager,uninstall the wireless adapter and then re-boot the laptop.Let's see if it will install the adapter with drivers that are found.

And I am now seeing that the ethernet adapter status has changed.Was it disonnected ?

Can't switch on wireless - try the button but don't do ought. When I run diagnostics it says "The wireless service is not running on this computer" - I assumed that this is because the adapter is not operating...?

No wireless doesn't come on at all, can't use the restore process (says it's not working on this computer), whole PC has got very slow - I'm thinking it's had a more major issue and I need to take it back to the seller and get windows re-installed - I've got a 2 year care agreement with them. What do you think?

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